Friday, January 13, 2012

Nanooks Play a Back and Forth Battle, Win 5-4 in a Shootout

Two shootouts between the two series on the road, and the Nanooks prevail again with a 1-0 victory in the shootout on the lone goal scored by Adam Henderson, which bumps the game score to 5-4 for CCHA scoring purposes, but it will go as a tie in the NCAA's book.

But anyhow, the Nanooks got some more chances, and for the large part, controlled a lot of the game, but again giving Ferris State a lot of chances on miscues, especially on the Nanooks end of the ice. Nik Yaremchuk opened the scoring in a bit of a back and forth first period to notch his 8th of the year with helpers from Granberg and Odegard, which prevailed as the lone goal to the end of the 1st period. The 2nd started off with a bang as Jordie Johnston, the opportunity shark for the Bulldogs put one home just 23 seconds removed from the starting faceoff. A good rush and attack with speed, which kinda caught the 'Nooks by surprise.

But this only started the swarm of scoring in the 5 goal 2nd period, as Nolan Youngmun, the freshman out of Anchorage scored his 2nd career Nanooks goal, and just like the 1st, this one also goes into the books unassisted. A bit of an interesting stat there!

Garrett Thompson got Ferris State up to tie it again on a power play goal, but that didn't last long as Granberg buried a beautiful redirection off a slapshot from the point to put the Nanooks up 3-2 on a power play goal of their own. But a good opportunity arose on a takeaway by Derek Graham off a costly defensive zone mistake on the Nanooks as he found Justin Buzzeo for the score to make it 3-3 headed into the final period.

Now, unfortunately I missed Kyle Bonis' goal there in the 3rd, so perhaps someone can fill us in there, but that goal gave Ferris their first lead of the game, at this point 4-3. But two quick penalties to Aaron Schmit and Garrett Thompson gave the Nanooks a golden 5 on 3 power play that they wasted no time on. 21 seconds after it started, Enders let one loose from the point that hit a body in front, but Henderson found the rebound in front and knocked it in for his 2nd of the year. And man has Henderson been playing well lately. He's only got a pair of goals this season, but is contributing a lot to the special teams units and really adding a lot of energy to the line up. With his style of play, he'll definitely start to get rewarded more with opportunities.

Now headed in to overtime, the Nanooks did not even surrender a shot on goal. They came close, and it probably could have been a shot, but it did not count as the Nanooks had two quality scoring chances to close out the extra period.

Henderson, who I had pegged as my 3rd star of the evening buried the only goal in the shootout as Greenham denied them all to give the Nanooks the extra point in the standings. Granberg finished as the stud of the goal with a goal and a pair of assists for a 3 point night, fairing well for him after missing some action. I guess he's got some catching up to do! Also in the multiple point category, Enders picks up a couple of helpers as he fed his centers in front of the net for goals. Nik Yaremchuk also with a goal and an assist on Granberg's goal.

Overall, a good outing for the Nanooks. They certainly got their chances, and gave a few up to Ferris State which they were able to capitalize on. I certainly hope tomorrow doesn't fare like last Saturday did for the Nanooks in Marquette after winning the shootout, but time will tell as the Nanooks will take on the Bulldogs again tomorrow afternoon, looking for their first win in 2012.